South Central Reporter

Students in Montgomery County districts had a truancy rate of 9.4% in the 2021-22 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. This was an increase over the previous school year's rate of 9.1%.

There were 3,856 students enrolled in Montgomery County districts in the 2021-22 school year, of which 363 students were absent throughout the year.

The districts located in the county had a dropout rate 5.6%, which was 2.4% higher than the year before.

Across the county, Hillsboro Community Unit School District 3 suffered the most truancy issues (14%) in the 2021-22 school year. Meanwhile, Nokomis Community Unit School District 22 successfully recorded the lowest truancy rate in the region (3.1%).

Students are generally considered chronically truant if they miss 5% or more of the total number of school days in a year without acceptable excuses.

The main offices of all districts mentioned in the story are located in cities associated with Montgomery County.

In 2022, Illinois had 1,925,415 students enrolled in a total of 3,977 schools. There were 130,467 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16.

K-12 enrollment has been declining in Illinois for many years, reflecting demographic changes. Combined public and private K-12 enrollment dropped 3% between the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 school years (60,900 students), far more than the typical 0.5% to 1.5% annual enrollment declines in Illinois over the last five years.

District	No. of students enrolled	Chronic truancy rates
Hillsboro Community Unit School District 3	1,563	14%
Litchfield Community Unit School District 12	1,257	10.4%
Panhandle Community Unit School District 2	443	7.1%
Nokomis Community Unit School District 22	593	3.1%